Production Machining

MAY 2016

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What seems to be a
neat little function
that saves engineers
some time and a few
headaches, is actually
a crucial element
in building a data
infrastructure.
New Standard Enables Digital Manufacturing
CONTRIBUTOR
Ramaraya Bhat is senior manager for business
and efciency at Sandvik Coromant, a
participant in ISO 13399 initiative.
By Ramaraya Bhat
I
ndustry 4.0, digital manufacturing or future manufac-
turing are only some of the buzzwords that represent the
latest trend in our industry. With the potential to drasti-
cally change manufacturing in a way we have not seen
since the invention of the steam engine, this is one trend
that has everyone talking.
While much of it sounds futuristic, we are often left
wondering exactly what needs to happen to get us there.
Whether this is the next industrial revolution or evolution,
the one absolute necessary element is data. Without good—
make that great—data, widespread digital manufacturing
and all the benefts it promises will only remain a vision.
Tis is where ISO 13399 and other developing standards
come into play. Te cutting tool standard defnes common
defnitions for attributes of cutting tools from multiple
suppliers, essentially eliminating descriptions unique to
a particular company's products in favor of one common
nomenclature.
For decades, all cutting
tool suppliers, CAM
suppliers, machine tool
builders, and other software
suppliers, had their own
way of denominating and
structuring the information
about tools. It was absolutely
impossible for even the
biggest players in this
industry to map all cutting
tool data to all demands from various stakeholders with an
interest in data. Tere was only one solution to this problem
and that was to implement a standard for communication.
With ISO 13399, dimensions, features, parameters
and parts are named and defned in a singular way. Te
standard accommodates new tools with multiple functions
without the need to change the standard. Te biggest
beneft of it is that it defnes each property by itself. In
other words, properties have the same meaning regardless
of the type of cutting tool described.
Terefore, ISO 13399 is a consistent way of commu-
nicating properties. It standardizes the information that
describes tools instead of the actual cutting tool compo-
nents. Te standard enables even complex communica-
tion about items and assemblies, as well as multi-function
tools. With the aid of digital tooling libraries such as
Adveon and Siemens MRL that are enabled by the
standard, companies can create tooling assemblies to
be shown in 2D or 3D renderings that are subsequently
imported into CAM software for simulations and setup.
What seems to be a neat little function that saves engineers
some time and a few headaches, is actually a crucial element
in building a data infrastructure for a connected and fully
integrated manufacturing environment. More and more of
these advanced functionalities in modern manufacturing
systems heavily rely on access to a plethora of relevant
information, both in pre- and post-machining phases as well
as during the actual machining process. Information about
available resources, such as tooling and setups, is only one of
these elements, but a crucial one.
Software systems, such as CAD, CAM, CASE, PDM/
EDM and other computer-aided technologies, are enabled
to communicate much more seamlessly with each other;
tooling input can be automated and instant instead of
manual and slow. A users' software can communicate with
tooling suppliers by directly accessing updated tooling data
from their sites.
Gone are the days of looking up information in catalogs,
of painstakingly interpreting data to be able to transfer it
from one system to another and worrying about how many
times one has to check it to get it right.
Tis ISO 13399 standard provides cutting tool informa-
tion in a neutral format. It is independent of any particular
system or company nomenclature. With tools clearly
defned according to a standard that all software can
process, the quality of communication and electronic
data exchange between systems will reach unprecedented
levels, making the data gathering process more efcient. It
optimizes the use of manufacturing resources, and it speeds
up and improves the quality of the planning process of a
new job, process or component.
Ultimately, ISO 13399 saves time and provides guaran-
teed data quality that systems and engineers can rely on.
Together, with other crucial building blocks, it takes us one
step closer to the future of digital manufacturing.
LAST WORD
72 PRODUCTION MACHINING :: MAY 2016